Gordon
by 2queens1prince
Summary: A puppy Gordon story.


AN: I've had this hanging around for quite a while. I hope you enjoy it.

Elizabeth McCord ducked her head under the strap of her messenger bag, slinging it across her body, and pressed the lock button on her key fob. The beep echoed off in the distance and she realized about ten yards from her Jeep that she left her coffee behind. Glancing at her watch, she realized she was already going to be a few minutes late for the political science department meeting anyway. She might as well show up one more minute late and be caffeinated.

She tried to keep her breathing even as she slipped into the back of the room, but it was proving challenging since she'd just speed walked from one side of campus to the other. The thought crossed Elizabeth's mind briefly that she should start running with her husband, Henry. She picked up the agenda from the table in the back and sat down next to the guy with the office next to hers, Adjunct Professor Mike Barnow.

He gave her a sly grin and scribbled something on the top of his paper before poking her in the thigh. She looked over and read the words, "I've got a surprise waiting for you in my office." She smirked and rolled her eyes. Mike seemed to always have surprises for her, none of which she found as thrilling as he thought they should be.

She held up her hand to end that conversation and focused on the meeting. At the end, Elizabeth turned back to Mike. "So what is this surprise?"

His eyes twinkled. "Come and see," he said, dragging her from the conference room down the hall. As they got close, she could hear muffled noises and a low whiny hum come from behind his door.

"Oh god, Mike. What have you done?" Elizabeth entered Mike's office with her eyes squinted, half afraid of what she might see. In the middle of the floor was a large box lined with newspaper and it held a puppy. Elizabeth squealed and knelt down next to the box and pulled the puppy from it, cuddling him to her chest. "Aww, Mike. He's adorable. What's his name?"

"Gordon. Isn't he awesome?" Elizabeth looked up at Mike, who was giddy will glee. She'd only seen this look from Mike a couple times before-once, when he publicly humiliated a student for trying to go over him regarding a bad grade, and the other, when his wife's flight was delayed and she would be two days longer getting home.

"How does your wife feel about Gordon?" Elizabeth asked, feeling bad that she couldn't remember the woman's name, then realizing that she wasn't sure she ever heard it.

"She doesn't know. I'll spring that on her tonight." Mike chuckled and got down, eye level with Gordon. "But you're so cute and if one of you has to go, it will be her."

"Mike," Elizabeth said, exasperated. "At some point you liked her."

"My investment portfolio got a boost because of her," he said, still making googly eyes at Gordon.

Elizabeth handed Gordon back to Mike and stood. "Well I suppose that's something." She ruffled Gordon on the head. "Let me know if you need a pupsitter between classes. I'll see what I can do." Then she was gone.

As time passed, everyone on the third floor became annoyed with Gordon, who was really just being a puppy, growing up amidst a bunch of academics. He ran through the halls bumping into people, he scattered papers, and he barked at all of the professors he didn't like, which were coincidentally the ones that Mike didn't like either,

The notable exception, for both, was Elizabeth. When Mike couldn't locate Gordon and couldn't hear anyone screaming at him, his dog could be found curled up in a ball next to Elizabeth's desk while she worked.

Elizabeth would have her bare feet propped up on the end of her desk, with a mound of papers stacked precariously in her lap, her head bent down in concentration, grading. Every so often, almost subconsciously, she would reach down and scratch Gordon's head. Sometimes there was a treat in her hand and Gordon was sure to show his appreciation.

All was well until the day that Mike caught Elizabeth giving Gordon treats and was furious. "For optium life span, Gordon needs to eat the best diet, and this," he chastised, holding up the box of grocery store brand dog treats, "is not it. No more." He grabbed Gordon by the collar and walked him out of Elizabeth's office.

Elizabeth reached across her desk to take the box and return it to the drawer when Mike dashed back in and snatched it. "And no feeding Gordon this shit on the sly. I'm wise to your CIA ways." Elizabeth laughed at him but was inwardly cringing as that had been her exact plan.

The next morning, Gordon padded into Elizabeth's office to assume his spot. After about an hour of Elizabeth patting his head and him getting no treat, Gordon licked her hand and stood. Once she was paying attention, he pressed his head to the drawer which held the treats.

"Aww, sorry Gordon. Daddy said 'no more.'" She opened the drawer and showed him that it was empty. "Sorry boy." She closed the drawer and went back to grading, not seeing that Gordon hadn't moved. Once he realized that he wasn't getting a treat, Gordon snatched her boots in his teeth and dragged them to the middle of the floor.

"Gordon? What are you-" Her words stopped when he lifted his leg and peed on them. "Dammit! Gordon! Ugh!" Elizabeth flew up from her chair as Gordon nonchalantly walked out of her office into Mike's.

Elizabeth appeared in the doorway immediately. " Mike! You have a mess to clean." Mike looked up from what he was reading. " You told me no more treats for Gordon and now he's ticked off and he just peed on my boots."

Mike sat on the floor and hugged Gordon. "Now boy. You can't be having all of those treats. It's not healthy."

"Mike. I hate to tell you, but Gordon is a dog. I think the nutritional talk is pointless." I'll be expecting new boots, and my office floor scrubbed. Right now, I'm off to class,and it appears I'm going barefoot. Good thing it's not cold today."

After the third day in a row, Elizabeth smuggled in cheap dog treats and went back to feeding them to Gordon, thereby solving the problem. Mike was impressed at how quickly Gordon could learn and Elizabeth just nodded and patted Gordon on the head.

Mike left UVA when he and his wife divorced. Somehow both Mike's son and Gordon were part of the custody agreement, and a devastated Mike had to turn Gordon over every other weekend and a month in the summer. He had the opposite arrangement for his son, which he wasn't nearly as upset about.

Elizabeth missed Gordon enough that they ended up getting a dog for themselves at the farm. The whole family was sad when they had to leave Honey behind with the caretaker, knowing their new lifestyle was not going to be suited for a dog who needed open spaces to run. But Elizabeth didn't have to wait too long because the microloan scandal broke, and Mike Elizabeth's first call.

When the pair walked onto the 7th floor, Gordon instantly recognized his old friend's scent and nearly pulled the leash out of Mike's hard trying to get to Elizabeth. After nuzzling into her leg and receiving head scratches, Gordon trotted around behind Elizabeth's desk and stood next to the drawer. Grinning, Elizabeth followed and pulled out a treat and gave it to Gordon.

Mike grimaced. "How old are those nasty things?"

"Only a few months. I had them from when I'd bring Honey to the office at school." She shrugged. "When I packed up my office, they ended up here. I thought maybe someday I'd need them again." She sat down and Gordon curled up at her feet. Elizabeth looked down and there was a comforting familiarity about the scene.

Elizabeth had felt like she was in way over her head with her recent job change, and sitting there in that moment, she realized that this was just another job. She had felt much the same when she started at the CIA and made the change to UVA. In both of those jobs, she acclimated and thrived. Secretary of State would be no different. Elizabeth looked down at Gordon and grinned, then turned her attention to Mike. "Let's get down to business, shall we?"


End file.
